Of all the remarkable achievements of Russell Westbrook’s bonkers-historic 2016-17 season so far — and, in case you’ve missed it, there are plenty to choose from — the frequency with which he’s getting to the foul line is one of the more sneakily impressive. Dude entered Monday night averaging 10.4 free-throw attempts per game; if he keeps that up over the course of the full season, he’d be the first player 6-foot-3 or under since Allen Iverson to crack double-digit nightly visits to the charity stripe, and just the fifth ever.

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Russ once again broke double-figures on Monday night, going 11-for-13 at the line against the Atlanta Hawks as he continued to carry the Oklahoma City Thunder offense by attacking, attacking and attacking some more. With the game in the balance in the closing seconds, though, the All-Star point guard didn’t get the benefit of the whistle, leaving Oklahoma City just one basket — and a few tenths of a second — short of victory:

After a short left-wing jumper by Hawks All-Star Paul Millsap gave Atlanta a 110-108 lead with 12 seconds remaining, Westbrook dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, looking for an opportunity to knot the game again, as he’d done on Oklahoma City’s previous possession. Just after crossing the timeline, Westbrook crossed from right to left and began to dart toward the paint, dribbling to the middle of the floor and straight into two Hawks defenders, swingmen Kent Bazemore and Thabo Sefolosha, his former Thunder teammate.

As he split the two defenders, Westbrook felt contact; as soon as he felt it, he leapt in the air, turned his body, and flung a jumper toward the basket. It bounced softly off the front of the rim and right back into Westbrook’s hands; he quickly tried another shot, but got his second attempt swatted from behind by Bazemore, sending the ball out of bounds with three seconds remaining.

With one last chance to tie the game or win it, Thunder forward Kyle Singler inbounded the ball to Westbrook, who curled around screens from Steven Adams and Jerami Grant for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer. It might have been an ill-advised shot — OKC still had about 2.5 seconds left when Russ let it fly, and he was going up over Bazemore’s outstretched arm — but it was the look the Thunder wanted. It came up well short, but teammate Anthony Morrow tapped the loose ball to Adams in the paint for one last attempt … only to see the Kiwi go up for a dunk rather than flip the ball toward the basket, which meant the ball didn’t get out of his hands before the buzzer sounded.

No dunk, no bucket, no win, as the Hawks hung on for a two-point road victory. Playing up a spot in the lineup in place of the injured Dwight Howard, Millsap scored 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, joining point guard Dennis Schröder (31 points, eight assists, five rebounds) to propel Atlanta to its fourth win in six games, getting Mike Budenholzer’s club back to .500 as they continue to try to right the ship after a disastrous 1-10 stretch.

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After the game, a clearly exasperated Westbrook aired his frustrations with the officials who swallowed their whistles on his last three shot attempts, denying him the chance to tie the game at the free-throw line in the closing seconds:

At first, Russ was like:

… but then, given some time to cool off (and, perhaps, to consider the fines likely to come from the league office if he pressed his luck), he was like:

As far as Westbrook’s coach and teammates were concerned, he had a legitimate gripe on those final few plays, according to Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman:

Donovan elaborated, according to Fred Katz of the Norman Transcript:

Donovan’s got a point, but Westbrook’s tendencies toward both hunting contact and contorting his body in wild ways to accentuate (or simulate) said contact might sometimes lead officials to look the other way in late-game situations … especially when, y’know, he just races down the floor into two dudes and chucks up a prayer:

Those frustrating closing seconds constituted a disappointing ending to what had been another brilliant night for Westbrook, who torched the Hawks defense to the tune of 46 points on 16-for-33 shooting to go with 11 rebounds, seven assists and a steal in 35 1/2 minutes of work:

But even as Westbrook dominated the proceedings, the Hawks knew that if they weathered the storm and got good looks on the other end, they’d have a chance.

“‘If he gets his points — he’s going to get that regardless,” Millsap said after the game, according to Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press. “The game plan was try to take everybody else out of it.”

Atlanta didn’t always succeed in doing so; wings Grant and Andre Roberson combined for a surprising 29 points and made six 3-pointers between them. But with No. 2 option Victor Oladipo still sidelined with a sprained right wrist, the Thunder just don’t have enough supplementary creative juice on some nights to survive unless Westbrook does it all himself.

On balance, “Russ tries to do it all himself” has been a really successful strategy for Oklahoma City this season. Sometimes, though, “doing it all” can become “doing too much” …

… and on Monday night, those key late-game possessions, the fates and refs alike refused to reward Russ for his endless exuberance.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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